It looks like cole slaw, but this shredded salad of root veggies — carrots, radishes, parsnips and celery root — is an excellent accompaniment to heavier winter foods.
Who says you can only make slaw with cabbage? Check out this winter slaw from Hank made with root vegetables. ~Elise
Winter is root vegetable time, and while I love roasted roots more than most people, sometimes you just want to lighten things up a bit.
So I decided to riff off standard cole slaw, only using nothing but shredded root vegetables, dressed with a parsley vinaigrette.
The combination works great, and this recipe has definitely earned a place in my lineup.
The trick to this salad is to use a coarse grater or a vegetable peeler to make it. I like using the peeler because you can get prettier shavings and you can deal with long, skinny roots like parsnips or carrots better with the peeler. Fatter roots, like celery root, are better shredded with a grater. Either works.
As for the vinaigrette, parsley goes well with all of these roots, but you can use other herbs, too. Mint is a good choice, as would rosemary or sage. You might even try cilantro for a Latin or Portuguese touch.
Winter Root Vegetable Slaw Recipe
- Prep time: 25 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4-6 as a side dish
The choice of root vegetables here works well, but you are free to mix and match. Just be sure to not have too many sweet vegetables like carrots and parsnips, or too many sharp ones, like radishes or turnips.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 cup sherry or red wine vinegar
- 1 cup chopped parsley, loosely packed
- 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large carrots (choose different colored carrots if you can find them)
- 2 medium parsnips
- 1 small celery root
- 2 black radishes or 1/2 daikon radish
Method
1 Make the vinaigrette: Put the mustard, salt, sugar, vinegar and parsley in a blender and process until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the blender, cover and process at its slowest setting.
Drizzle in the olive oil slowly. When it is all in, move the blender to its highest setting and puree for about 90 seconds.
2 Shred the root vegetables: Peel all the vegetables except for the radishes, if you are using black ones. The slivers of black in the salad look cool, so I leave them in.
Using a vegetable peeler or a coarse grater, slice shreds off the vegetables into a bowl. Try to keep the shreds roughly the same length if you can.
3 Toss shredded vegetables with vinaigrette: To finish, toss some of the vinaigrette with the shredded vegetables and let stand in the fridge for at least 20 minutes before serving.
